Education

It is fair to say the Wainscott School District’s financial situation has reached crisis level: A budget with a 49.27-percent jump in overall spending — carrying a tax-levy increase of more than 95 percent — is on the table for the 2023-24 school year.

The Sagaponack School’s proposed $1.89-million spending plan for the 2023-24 school year “is a pretty straightforward, easy budget,” the district superintendent, Jay Finello, said this week. “It’s very close to this year’s, with a modest increase, without any major changes at all.”

Family members, schoolmates, and administrators looked on as Leslie Samuel, a Bridgehampton senior who has had an outstanding track career under East Hampton High’s aegis, signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Hartford, where she will run and study nursing.

On May 16, voters in the Sag Harbor School District will be asked to say yes or no to the purchase of five wooded properties on Marsden Street for a total of $9.425 million. What's at stake? Short answer: a lot.

Saturday’s Our Fabulous Variety Show performance will be followed at 7 p.m. by Drag Bingo and Game Night, hosted by RaffaShow and friends as a fund-raiser for the O.F.V.S. Crew’s upcoming performance at Walt Disney World in June. Plus: Arbor Day celebration, theatrical performances, movies, and more for kids and teens.

In a situation that has been brewing since 2016, this year is the first time the Montauk School District is putting an over-the-tax-cap budget proposal on the ballot: a $22.73 million spending plan that maintains all current programs and services but asks the taxpayers to support a tax-levy increase of 18.56 percent for the 2023-24 school year.

The Bridgehampton School District’s proposed budget ensures “the best possible program for our students while being mindful of our responsibility to the taxpayers to be fiscally accountable,” said Mary T. Kelly, the superintendent, in discussing the $21.74 million spending plan that voters will see on the May 16 ballot for the next school year.

In East Hampton's Methods in Research program, students conduct high-level scientific experiments and analyses that almost universally address — and often propose solutions to — problems the planet is experiencing, such as climate change, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, pollution, and decreasing biodiversity.

The Sag Harbor School Board voted on April 19 to adopt a $48.06 million budget plan for the 2023-24 school year, though the plan — with a tax-cap-compliant 1.88-percent increase built in — is not expected to be the hottest item on the May 16 ballot.

The Sag Harbor School District has scheduled a public forum "addressing the proposed acquisition" of five wooded properties on Marsden Street for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Pierson Middle and High School auditorium.

Tuesday will be an exciting day for the 43 students enrolled in East Hampton High School’s Methods in Research science program. They will welcome parents, friends, and community members to the school’s research symposium, the first to be held since the Covid-19 pandemic paused most activities, where they will display and discuss their projects and results.

The Springs School Board has an uphill mountain to climb as it seeks support from the community for an over-the-tax-cap budget plan that will need a supermajority of at least 60-percent voter approval to pass.